Bergen, North Holland
Bergen ( ) is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Its North Sea beaches make it a popular destination for tourists, especially Germans. In 2001, the municipality was expanded to include the former municipalities of Egmond and Schoorl. Since about 1900, Bergen has been the home of many painters, writers and architects. Some of the work of this "Bergen School" is on exhibit at Museum Kranenburgh. The neighbourhood of Park Meerwijk, constructed in 1915, is made up entirely of villas in Amsterdam School style. There are regular art fairs in Bergen, as well as an annual music festival (the Holland Music Sessions in August) and arts festival (the Kunsttiendaagse in October). North of the town of Bergen are the Schoorlse Duinen, a nature area with the highest and widest dunes of the Netherlands, which reach about 59m (195 ft) above sealevel, and are more than 5 km (3 miles) wide in some places. Other points of interest in the municipality include the aquarium in the seaside village of Bergen aan Zee, the Auto Union Museum in Bergen with a collection of classic cars, and the historical museums Het Sterkenhuis (Bergen) and Museum van Egmond (Egmond aan Zee). The town of Bergen is home to the European School, Bergen. Population centres The municipality of Bergen consists of the following cities, towns, villages and/or districts: Bergen, Aagtdorp, Bergen aan Zee, Bregtdorp, Camperduin, Catrijp, Egmond aan den Hoef, Egmond aan Zee, Egmond-Binnen, Groet, Hargen, Rinnegom, Schoorl, Schoorldam (partly), Wimmenum. History The town of Bergen developed around a chapel and is mentioned as far back as the tenth century. An old local legend is the "Miracle of Bergen", which is said to have occurred during the St. Elisabeth's Flood of 1421. The story goes that the schout (sheriff) of Bergen found a chest containing hosts (the thin wafers used in Holy Communion) from the church of Petten which had floated to Bergen during the flood. The seawater that penetrated the chest had turned into blood. There is also a second miracle story, thought to have occurred in 1422, whereby hosts turned into blood. On the site where the miracle of Bergen is said to have happened, a chapel was erected. Bergen became a place of pilgrimage and Roman-Catholic processions were held at the site for centuries and are still ongoing today. In the fifteenth century, the Ruïnekerk ("Ruined Church") was built on the site of the chapel and at the time was the largest of its kind in the province of North-Holland. In 1574, during the Eighty Years War against Spain, the church was looted and burned down by Dutch Protestants, but was later rebuilt to its current state. In 1799, during the French Revolutionary Wars, a British-Russian army invaded North-Holland. At Bergen, a battle with the French-Batavian armies took place on 19 September. The Russisch Monument in Bergen commemorates this Battle of Bergen. Local government The municipal council of Bergen consists of 23 seats, which are divided as follows: * VVD - 6 seats * CDA - 5 seats * Gem Bel B.E.S. - 4 seats * PvdA - 4 seats * D66 - 2 seats * GroenLinks - 2 seats People born in Bergen *Pierre Golle (1620-1684) - cabinetmaker and designer *Simeon ten Holt (b. 1923) - composer *Saskia Noort (b. 1967) - writer and journalist *Kees van Wonderen (b. 1969) - footballer *Jim Bakkum (b. 1987) - singer and actor References * Statistics are taken from the SDU Staatscourant External links *Visit Bergen *A map of the municipality Bergen *Detailed maps of all villages *Museum Kranenburgh *VVV Bergen Category:Municipalities of North Holland Category:Settlements in North Holland Category:Bergen, North Holland